The Footsteps Of Time

This view looks east from Parliament Hill, with the Canal below, and Major's Hill Park across the gap. Notre Dame and the American embassy can be seen in the background.

On the east side of Centre Block, a statue of Queen Elizabeth II can be found. This is one of two monarchs on the Hill; a statue of Queen Victoria is on the west side, but is currently inaccessible with the work going on over there.

The statue honouring Sir John A. Macdonald, our first Prime Minister and the leader of the Confederation movement, can be found nearby.

William Lyon Mackenzie King stands a short walk away; he was our longest serving Prime Minister serving three tenures in the role (with interruptions for other parties in power) from 1921-48. I would argue that he and Lester Pearson were our greatest Prime Ministers.

These are the Famous Five- the five women were behind the Persons case of 1929, a landmark victory in the struggle for equality for women in Canada. Judge Emily Murphy brought together four Alberta women- Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney, Nellie McClung, and Irene Parlby- in a case to have a woman appointed to the Senate. The case went all the way to the British Privy Council at the time, which resulted in the determination that yes, women were indeed persons, and qualified for the job. The sculptures of the five women are arranged here, east of Centre Block. They are larger than life, and people particularly respond to them (to the point where it can be hard to get a photo of them without people around them). The sculpture set was inaugurated in 2000.